Overflow strainer

ABSTRACT

An overflow strainer includes: a restraining portion (two or more tabs configured to prevent the overflow strainer from falling down the overflow tube, and/or a lip configured for the same purpose); a sealing portion (a lip configured to seal against the top of the overflow tube, and/or a body configured to seal against an internal wall of the overflow tube, and/or a concentric outer seal configured to seal against an external wall of the overflow tube); and a mesh portion configured to block waste solids while allowing fluids to pass. Further, a handle may facilitate the user extracting the overflow strainer from inside of the overflow tube. The mesh portion may be substantially conical or cylindrical or hemispherical.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application does not claim priority to any other application.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The field of this disclosure is strainers; specifically, overflow strainers for separating waste solids from a fluid containing waste solids.

BACKGROUND

Many restaurants use a type of sink called a “dipper well” to clean utensils such as ice cream scoops. After use, an ice cream scoop is covered with leftover ice cream, such as almond chocolate ice cream. The used scoop is placed into a water reservoir in the dipper well. Water continuously flows from a fill tube, into the water reservoir, around the scoop, and exits into an overflow tube. One major manufacturer of these dipper wells is The Dipwell Co. Additional information is available at the website of The Dipwell Co. (https://dipwell.com/products/6-round-deep-drawn-dipwell).

The water cleans the scoop and warms the scoop (so the scoop cuts through the ice cream like a hot knife through butter). Unfortunately, solid waste such as nuts and fruits tend to clog the overflow tube, either at the top of the overflow tube or (even worse) somewhere downstream in the pipes.

Dipper wells may be used for many other purposes, such as cleaning ladles or other food utensils.

FIG. 1 illustrates a standard six inch round dipper well from The Dipwell Co., including typical dimensions. In FIG. 1, side view (a) is a side view of the dipper well illustrating a fill tube providing a flow of clean water, a well receiving the clean water, an overflow tube removing contaminated water (with waste solids), and a waste connecter connecting the overflow tube to a sewer.

In FIG. 1, top view (b) is a top view illustrating the same features as shown in side view (a).

FIG. 2 illustrates an ice cream scoop and water in a dipper well. The fill tube adds water to the well, forming a water reservoir. Excess water flows out downward through the overflow tube (see arrow in FIG. 2), such that the water level of the water reservoir is limited by the overflow tube. An ice cream scoop is shown resting in the water reservoir, being continuously cleaned and warmed by flowing water from the fill tube. Solid waste from the ice cream scoop is continuously flushed out through the overflow tube, and often causes clogs in the overflow tube (and therefore spillage out of the well).

The top of the overflow tube is approximately four inches above the bottom of the well, thus limiting the water level to approximately four inches above the bottom of the well (unless the overflow tube is blocked with solid waste).

FIG. 3 illustrates a top view of water in a dipper well, illustrating the same features discussed above in FIGS. 1 and 2, and providing nominal illustrative dimensions.

The overflow tube is prone to blockages from solid waste such as nuts, and such blockages tend to cause messy overflows out of the well.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure relates to an overflow strainer designed to utilize the internal volume of the overflow tube to capture solid waste.

In one embodiment, an overflow strainer includes: a restraining portion (two or more tabs configured to prevent the overflow strainer from falling down the overflow tube, and/or a lip configured for the same purpose); a sealing portion (a lip configured to seal against the top of the overflow tube, and/or a body configured to seal against an internal wall of the overflow tube, and/or a concentric outer seal configured to seal against an external wall of the overflow tube); and a mesh portion configured to block waste solids while allowing fluids to pass. The overflow strainer may also be used for other purposes such as placement in an ordinary sink.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate the scope of the present disclosure and realize additional aspects thereof after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments in association with the accompanying drawing figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

The accompanying drawing figures incorporated in and forming a part of this specification illustrate several aspects of the disclosure, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.

FIG. 1 illustrates a standard six inch round dipper well.

FIG. 2 illustrates an ice cream scoop and water in a dipper well.

FIG. 3 illustrates a top view of water in a dipper well.

FIG. 4 illustrates one embodiment of an overflow strainer including two tabs, a lip, a body, and a mesh truncated cone with perforations.

FIG. 5 illustrates an overflow strainer including a lip, a cylindrical body, a mesh cone, and a handle.

FIG. 6 illustrates an overflow strainer including a lip, a cylindrical body, and a mesh cylinder with perforated walls.

FIG. 7 illustrates an overflow strainer including a lip, a cylindrical body, and a mesh hemisphere with perforated walls.

FIG. 8 illustrates an overflow strainer including a lip, a cylindrical body and a mesh flat bottom.

FIG. 9 illustrates an overflow strainer including a lip, a cylindrical body, a mesh cone, and a concentric outer seal.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The embodiments set forth below represent the necessary information to enable those skilled in the art to practice the embodiments and illustrate the best mode of practicing the embodiments. Upon reading the following description in light of the accompanying drawing figures, those skilled in the art will understand the concepts of the disclosure and will recognize applications of these concepts not particularly addressed herein. It should be understood that these concepts and applications fall within the scope of the disclosure and the accompanying claims.

FIG. 4 illustrates one embodiment of an overflow strainer including two tabs, a lip, a body, and a mesh truncated cone with perforations. Perspective view (a) of FIG. 1 illustrates an overflow strainer configured to be positioned on and inside of the overflow tube, and to utilize volume inside of the overflow tube to capture solid waste. Side view (b) of FIG. 1 illustrates a side view of the same strainer.

Specifically, in this embodiment the overflow strainer includes: two tabs (TAB-A and TAB-B) configured to help a user remove the overflow strainer from the overflow tube; a lip (or rim) configured to seal against the entire top surface of the overflow tube (and to similarly help the user), a non-perforated body configured to provide structural strength and to seal against the inside of the overflow tube; and a mesh truncated cone with perforations sized to block solid waste having some predetermined diameter.

The mesh may include round perforations or square perforations. The mesh may be made of interwoven wires. The truncated portion of the cone may have a solid bottom for strength, or may have a perforated bottom for additional straining. The overflow strainer may be made of metal, or rubber, or plastic, or any combination of these and other well known materials. In one embodiment, the entire overflow strainer is made from thermosetting plastic.

In view (b) of FIG. 4, the overflow tube has an internal volume defined by a cylinder inside of the overflow tube having a diameter equal to the inner diameter of the overflow tube (e.g. ⅞ inch) and a length equal to the length of the overflow tube (e.g. 4 inches).

The overflow strainer utilizes some of the internal volume of the overflow tube to serve as a waste volume. Specifically, the waste volume is defined as the internal volume of the mesh portion of the overflow strainer (plus the internal volume of the body if a body is used). The waste volume is a subset of the internal volume of the overflow tube (overflow tube internal volume). When the overflow strainer is in place, the waste volume is the volume inside of the overflow strainer that is capable of capturing and holding solid waste.

In the embodiment of FIG. 4, the waste volume consists of an internal cylinder inside of the body of the overflow strainer, plus a truncated cone inside of the mesh truncated cone of the overflow strainer. In one embodiment, the waste volume exceeds ten percent of the internal volume of the overflow tube (overflow tube internal volume). In a second embodiment, the waste volume exceeds twenty percent of the internal volume of the overflow tube. In a third embodiment, the waste volume exceeds fifty percent of the internal volume of the overflow tube.

In FIG. 4, the overflow strainer is shown having a nominal one and one half inch height, and being configured to fit inside of an overflow tube having a nominal seven eighths inch inner diameter. If the height of the overflow tube is four inches (as shown in FIG. 2), then the height of the overflow strainer preferably is not more than four inches, so that the overflow strainer does not extend below the bottom of the well. In one embodiment, the height of the overflow strainer is more than twice the internal diameter of the overflow tube. In one embodiment, the height of the overflow strainer is more than half the height of the overflow tube.

A seal against the overflow tube may be formed by the lip, or by the body, or by both the lip and the body. One or more tabs may extend beyond the outer diameter of the overflow tube to facilitate a user removing the overflow strainer by grabbing one or more tabs. The lip may extend beyond the outer diameter of the overflow tube to facilitate a user removing the overflow strainer by grabbing a portion of the lip extending beyond the outer diameter of the overflow tube (similar to the tab). Using tabs saves on materials, but using an extended lip (and no tabs) simplifies the design.

Further, two tabs (and/or one lip) prevent the overflow strainer from slipping too far into the overflow tube, and thus serve as a restraining portion.

In summary, in one embodiment an overflow strainer includes: a restraining portion (two or more tabs configured to prevent the overflow strainer from falling down the overflow tube, and/or a lip configured for the same purpose); a sealing portion (a lip configured to seal against the top of the overflow tube, and/or a body configured to seal against an internal wall of the overflow tube, and/or a concentric outer seal configured to seal against an external wall of the overflow tube); and a mesh portion configured to block waste solids while allowing fluids to pass.

The lip may serve as a restraining portion and simultaneously as a sealing portion. A concentric outer seal is shown below in FIG. 9. The overflow strainer defines a waste volume, as discussed above.

FIG. 5 illustrates an overflow strainer including a lip, a cylindrical body, a mesh cone, and a handle. FIG. 5 is similar to FIG. 4, except that the mesh is a mesh cone reaching a point. In a mesh cone, the tip may be solid.

FIG. 6 illustrates an overflow strainer including a lip, a cylindrical body and a mesh cylinder with perforated walls. FIG. 6 is similar to FIG. 4, except that the mesh is a mesh cylinder. The outer diameter of the mesh cylinder must be substantially less than the inner diameter of the overflow tube, so that fluid can exit sideways through the mesh, and then downwards in the space between the mesh and the inner wall of the overflow tube.

The bottom of the mesh cylinder may be solid or may be mesh.

FIG. 7 illustrates an overflow strainer including a lip, a cylindrical body and a mesh hemisphere with perforated walls. FIG. 7 is similar to FIG. 4, except that the mesh is a mesh hemisphere having a substantially hemispherical shape. Similarly, the mesh may be other smooth shapes such as a parabola (substantially parabolic) or a hyperbola (substantially hyperbolic). These smooth shapes have the useful property of not having corners for the waste solids to get stuck in.

FIG. 8 illustrates an overflow strainer including a lip, a cylindrical body and a mesh flat bottom. FIG. 8 is similar to FIG. 4, except that the mesh is a mesh flat bottom located on the bottom of a cylindrical body.

FIG. 9 illustrates an overflow strainer including a lip, a cylindrical body, a mesh cone, and a concentric outer seal. FIG. 9 is similar to FIG. 5, further comprising a concentric outer seal.

Those skilled in the art will recognize improvements and modifications to the preferred embodiments of the present disclosure. All such improvements and modifications are considered within the scope of the concepts disclosed herein and the claims that follow. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An overflow strainer for an overflow tube, the overflow strainer comprising: a restraining portion configured to restrain the overflow strainer on top of the overflow tube; a sealing portion configured to seal the overflow strainer against the overflow tube; and a mesh portion configured to be positioned inside of the overflow tube, and configured to strain out solid waste from a fluid passing into the overflow tube.
 2. The overflow strainer of claim 1, wherein: the restraining portion comprises at least one of: two or more tabs configured to prevent the overflow strainer from falling down the overflow tube, and a lip configured to prevent the overflow strainer from falling down the overflow tube; the sealing portion comprises at least one of: a lip configured to seal against the top of the overflow tube, a body configured to seal against an internal wall of the overflow tube, and a concentric outer seal configured to seal against an external wall of the overflow tube; and the mesh portion is substantially one of the following shapes: a truncated cone, a cone, a cylinder, a hemisphere, a parabola, a hyperbola, and a flat bottom.
 3. The overflow strainer of claim 2, further comprising: the body is configured to fit inside of the overflow tube, wherein the body portion does not have any perforations.
 4. The overflow strainer of claim 2, further comprising: a handle portion configured to enable a user to easily remove the overflow strainer from the overflow tube.
 5. The overflow strainer of claim 2, wherein the restraining portion comprises at least two tabs, and wherein the at least two tabs are configured to extend outwards substantially beyond an outer wall of the overflow tube, such that a user can grab at least one of the at least two tabs with fingers.
 6. The overflow strainer of claim 2, wherein the sealing portion includes the lip configured to seal against the top of the overflow tube.
 7. The overflow strainer of claim 2, wherein the sealing portion includes the body.
 8. The overflow strainer of claim 2, wherein the sealing portion includes the concentric outer seal.
 9. The overflow strainer of claim 2, wherein the mesh portion is substantially one of the following shapes: a truncated cone, and a cone.
 10. The overflow strainer of claim 2, wherein the mesh portion is substantially a cylinder.
 11. The overflow strainer of claim 2, wherein the mesh portion is substantially one of the following smooth shapes: a hemisphere, a parabola, and a hyperbola,
 12. The overflow strainer of claim 2, further comprising a waste volume, wherein the waste volume includes an internal volume of the mesh portion, and further includes an internal volume of the body if a body is used.
 13. The overflow strainer of claim 12, wherein the overflow tube has an overflow tube internal volume defined by a height of and an internal diameter of the overflow tube.
 14. The overflow strainer of claim 13, wherein the waste volume exceeds 20 percent of the overflow tube internal volume.
 15. The overflow strainer of claim 13, wherein the waste volume exceeds 50 percent of the overflow tube internal volume.
 16. The overflow strainer of claim 2, wherein the overflow strainer has an overflow strainer height, and the overflow tube has an inner diameter.
 17. The overflow strainer of claim 14, wherein the overflow strainer height exceeds the inner diameter of the overflow tube.
 18. The overflow strainer of claim 14, wherein the overflow strainer height exceeds twice the inner diameter of the overflow tube.
 19. An overflow strainer for an overflow tube, the overflow strainer comprising: a restraining portion configured to restrain the overflow strainer on top of the overflow tube, wherein the restraining portion comprises two tabs, and wherein each tab is configured to extend substantially beyond the outer wall of the overflow tube to facilitate grabbing by a user; a sealing portion configured to seal the overflow strainer against the overflow tube, wherein the sealing portion comprises a body configured to seal against an inner wall of the overflow tube; and a mesh portion configured to be positioned inside of the overflow tube, and configured to strain out solid waste from a fluid passing into the overflow tube, wherein the mesh is substantially a truncated cone.
 20. The overflow strainer of claim 19, further comprising a handle configured for the user to grab the handle and to remove the overflow strainer from the overflow tube. 